Departure Songs by Hammock

Album release date was October 2, 2012 not January as shown above. About Departure Songs (Words by James Mason): Hammock go massive as they meditate on grand themes of death and loss, their music ever larger, more expansive. Every song a mountaintop vista with a clear view to the horizon, unencumbered by clouds, in all directions. Departure Songs demands that it be played loudly so that the details in each track can breathe, whether it is the androgynous, falsetto vocals of Marc Byrd or the angelic voice of Christine Glass Byrd or just a little bit of guitar in the background, this record is nuanced in a most compelling fashion. The arrangements beg to be picked apart - soaring guitars, propulsive bass, and hypnotic strings. The vocals work wonderfully as an instrument, but when the words finally become understandable, they cause shivers. Departure Songs is an album about being there and not being there. And how it feels to both be there and have someone else not be there. Presence and absence. Love and grief. Hammock’s music has always been a balm for troubled hearts in troubled times - and here the troubled times are their own. This is intensely personal music, and we are lucky that Hammock will let us listen in. Not as fragile as previous efforts, Departure Songs shows a more mature songwriting, more assured production, a fuller approach to crafting music. Hammock retains its signature approach to epic music-making, but this time out, herald their muse in all capital letters, with cinematic crescendos and an architect’s ear for structure both within a song and as a sequence of songs. The quiet, more ambient tracks act as both underline and counterbalance to the bigger tracks. Hammock’s greatest success as musicians is to make music that is, at its heart, completely the saddest music ever made but expressed in a manner that is ecstatic. This is what makes Hammock special - ecstasy through exquisite sadness. Epiphany. ℗ 2012 Hammock Music